Stabilizing anticipation in the psychotic delusions of some so-called transgendered subjects

Daniel Paul Schreber, a psychotic man who had written his autobiography and became an important case study in psychoanalytic history, had created a delusion that he would become the woman of God and that this would place him at the origin of a new race. In his comments on the evolution of his thinking we can learn that anticipating the realization of his mission stabilized his enigmatic bodily experiences and his enigmatic thoughts. In anticipating the realization of an idea a double barrier is created. At the one hand Schreber can handle the elementary phenomenons of his psychosis. He now knows that his enigmatic body experience has a meaning: he is becoming a woman. On the other hand the subject now has a mission that gives his life direction: he is going to give God a new race. The fact however that the realization of his mission is an anticipated realization is vitally important. The delusion may not be realized. Once it would be realized, the whole psychotic system collapses again and confronts the subject again with the initial anxiety of extreme bodily sensations. With the case of Schreber in mind we formulate some remarks concerning so-called transsexual subjects. We argue that in some cases it is very pernicious to answer the demand of a subject to change sex, because a discrete psychosis can be triggered.

@article{3050449,
abstract = {Daniel Paul Schreber, a psychotic man who had written his autobiography and became an important case study in psychoanalytic history, had created a delusion that he would become the woman of God and that this would place him at the origin of a new race. In his comments on the evolution of his thinking we can learn that anticipating the realization of his mission stabilized his enigmatic bodily experiences and his enigmatic thoughts. In anticipating the realization of an idea a double barrier is created. At the one hand Schreber can handle the elementary phenomenons of his psychosis. He now knows that his enigmatic body experience has a meaning: he is becoming a woman. On the other hand the subject now has a mission that gives his life direction: he is going to give God a new race. The fact however that the realization of his mission is an anticipated realization is vitally important. The delusion may not be realized. Once it would be realized, the whole psychotic system collapses again and confronts the subject again with the initial anxiety of extreme bodily sensations. With the case of Schreber in mind we formulate some remarks concerning so-called transsexual subjects. We argue that in some cases it is very pernicious to answer the demand of a subject to change sex, because a discrete psychosis can be triggered.},
author = {Geldhof, Abe and Debaere, Virginie and Hendrickx, David},
issn = {1373-5411},
journal = {CASYS : INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTING ANTICIPATORY SYSTEMS.},
keyword = {Enjoyment,Transsexuality,Body,Psychosis,Anticipation},
language = {eng},
pages = {121--128},
title = {Stabilizing anticipation in the psychotic delusions of some so-called transgendered subjects},
year = {2012},
}